One thing of immediate note: They got over 13.5 hours of battery life on the Surface 2 watching movies.

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Oh dang. So it would seem, by their testing and for the previous RT, that Microsoft's battery estimates have been conservative. That goes against the decade-plus general recommendation of subtracting 1-2 hours from manufacturer estimates. I'd like to know, however, if that video playback was local or streamed.

Their assessment that MS' anti-iPad advertising is pointless is, I think, rather spot on. Who cares... they're just too different for heads-on comparison anyway and that just muddies everything by getting fandom involved. Just tell us what the tablets can do and where in our lives it can fit. But per their editorial conclusion, I'd rather go for the epic battery life and included Office than full Windows in a mobile device since I already have a gaming desktop.

Looks like the SP2 is seeing double the battery life over the original. That'll be welcomed by more than a few people, I bet.

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Engadget:

Whereas the original could barely crack four hours, this year's model lasted through six hours and 27 minutes of uninterrupted video playback (that's with WiFi on and the screen brightness fixed at 65 percent).

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I'm not sure that's quite double, but it's a significant increase nonetheless. Good to hear. What's impressive is that I was pretty neutral about MS saying the Pro 2 is the fastest-whatever on the market, but apparently it really is dang fast by the tests. Nice.

ungh! why do I get the feeling when reading this crap from engadget I hear the snively and condescending and contumacious voice of Dr Sheldon Cooper with an little bit of inferiority complex when I read this article? even when trying to snidely give a compliment it comes out...like a snide remark! gawd I hate engadget and their apple fanboy higher than thou attitude! gimme a break! no wonder I lost interest going there along time ago...

ungh! why do I get the feeling when reading this crap from engadget I hear the snively and condescending and contumacious voice of Dr Sheldon Cooper with an little bit of inferiority complex when I read this article? even when trying to snidely give a compliment it comes out...like a snide remark! gawd I hate engadget and their apple fanboy higher than thou attitude! gimme a break! no wonder I lost interest going there along time ago...

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Oh, they're terrible. When they did an article on the pulling of RT 8.1 they started the article with this: "If you're one of the few people who own a Windows RT tablet (don't all raise your hands at once, now), you just got a chunk of your Saturday back."

Looks like the SP2 is seeing double the battery life over the original. That'll be welcomed by more than a few people, I bet.

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Oh, looks like the Verge review reports some different numbers for the Pro 2:

The Surface Pro 2 lasted 7 hours, 33 minutes on the Verge Battery Test, which cycles through a series of websites and high-res images with screen brightness set to 65 percent. That's nearly double the Surface Pro score, which lasted for 3 hours, 59 minutes.

Oh, they're terrible. When they did an article on the pulling of RT 8.1 they started the article with this: "If you're one of the few people who own a Windows RT tablet (don't all raise your hands at once, now), you just got a chunk of your Saturday back."

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They also managed to get 13+ hours of video on S2. I can't wait to see how long it lasts tonight if I get my hands on one in the morning. It's going to be a nice change from Pro having more than double the battery life and that sweet second angle.

A lot of the reviews tried to hate but in the end, compared to the competition, they ultimately couldn't deny its a great product. Whether Sirface2 or Pro2. The usual B.S. about RT was the app ecosystem not being robust as android or apple. Then with the pro, its thickness, weight. They all acknowledged the improvement in battery life basically. Most acknowledged though, both of these devices are a beast performance wise. I was especially impressed with how much faster the Surface 2 is and the large margin by which the pro2 HD4400 gpu performance has increased compared to pro1 HD4000 gpu. It really is basically a 50% increase in gpu performance in new model. So MS has been holding true to what they said in their launch event.

I'm impressed with both models. The Sirface2 was the more dramatic upgrade. Even if you look at the pro2 as a more incremental one, its still a better device all the way around basically. A potential new pro owner should definitely get the new model. Unless they can get the original one on a great deal. I can also see reasons for people wanting to upgrade also. That new angle on kickstand looks very useful also and definitely improves lapability..lol

Only read The Verge's review, but the usual Microsoft hate was present... should be at least an 8/10 imo (although I would of course give it more!)

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I think the reviews are pretty fair for the SP2. Microsoft doesn't help itself by creating a high dollar product (SP2) but having more superior components (i.e. camera's) on the S2. That deserves a knock. Obviously they are trying to pawn off old hardware on the consumer because of their business mistake assessing initial demand.

Also, as Anandtech mentioned (I believe it was them) Microsoft isn't getting the battery life out of the same Haskell stuff as other vendors, and what they were told is Microsoft didn't work closely with Intel. If this is true that stinks because they are asking a premium for this they should be giving it premium effort.

Most of the concerns addressed with the SP2 were largely them sitting on their hands and letting Intel do their jobs. A little lazy if you ask me. Yes I'm still buying a SP2, but this was largely a lazy iterative release SP2. I get this, but it gets the product to a more usable state for me so they are suckering me in for a buy. I hate the battery life of the SP1 so much have no choice.

I haven't really read any of the S2 reviews because I'm not as concerned about that.